Books on: Black Church Beginnings

On Franklin Square, the First African Baptist Church is the oldest black church in North America. Founded by slaves in 1775, the church has a history nearly as old as Savannah itself.

From the outside, the church isn’t all that impressive, but that changes once you step indoors. It’s beautiful, with curved pews pointing towards the pulpit and a pair of upper balconies for busy days. The church was built by slaves who, as you might imagine, didn’t have much money or time. Over the course of four years, they worked at night on the construction. That’s some faith — after a day of back-breaking work in the fields, to come and toil even longer.

Their first preacher was a slave, and since slaves educating each other was forbidden, he would regularly be taken out into Franklin Square and whipped, until his owner stepped up for him and forbid further punishment. Our tour guide was full of interesting anecdotes like this, and our hour long visit flew by.

The church was built with a secret floor underneath its real floor, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Never discovered by authorities, the crawlspace hid hundreds of runaway slaves and a tunnel led them to the Savannah river. To mask their true purpose, the floor’s breathing holes were bored in the shape of the Kongo Cosmogram; an African spiritual symbol often used by American slaves.

At first glance, the church’s ceiling looks rather plain — squares like waffles, as one kid on our tour said. But our guide explained that they represented the Nine-Patch Quilt, which served as beacons to slaves on the run. I never knew about that… so the ceiling is a touching tribute to the noble and secretive purpose of the church. Another interesting thing new to me was cursive Hebrew. The original pews built hundreds of years ago are still in use. On the ends of each pew, cursive Hebrew has been scratched into the wood. Our guide wasn’t able to translate any of it, but he did tell us how a few African tourists had visited recently and instantly recognized it. Apparently, it’s still used by Jewish communities in Africa.

Now this is the kind of stuff that totally interests me… Kongo Cosmograms, Underground Railroad Patchwork, Cursive Hebrew. If you’re the same, make sure to visit the First African Baptist Church, either for the tour (daily, at 11am and 2pm) or for Sunday service.

First African Baptist Church
23 Montgomery Street
Location on our Savannah Map
912-233-6597

Savannah Book for your Kindle

Hey, you know what Savannah has plenty of? Tours. Carriage Tours, walking tours, hearse tours, haunted tours, pub tours, haunted pub tours, Civil War tours, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tours.

Hold on, I’m just getting started! Black history tours, Girl Scout tours, dolphin tours, gates and gardens tours, Paula Deen tours. And trolley tours. Lord, are there trolley tours. There are more trolleys than cars in Savannah! THERE ARE MORE TROLLEYS THAN BLADES OF GRASS. Yesterday, I got hit by a trolley on the street and another trolley rushed me to the hospital, which was itself inside a trolley. The Hospital Trolley Tour. It’s awesome, check it out.

So we’ve done a few trolley tours. How could we not? I won’t mention the less impressive ones … the dumpy ones with plastic covering the windows, you know who you are. No, I suppose if you’re in the city and must do a trolley tour, hunt down the Old Town Trolley. Orange and green. A bit more expensive, but worth it.

First off, the trolleys have sparkly clean glass windows; none of this plastic nonsense. Our driver was good, and managed to be interesting and legitimately funny, which is a tough thing to do when your audience includes a cynical jerk who thinks he’s heard it all before (“me”). He got amusingly frustrated once when our trolley was blocked by an SUV trying to parallel park. While he was complaining, all us tourists pressed our faces to the glass to point and laugh at the dumb-parking idiot. Heh, tourists laughing at locals! Eat it!

The tour is llooooong and comprehensive; perfect for people who don’t have all that much time in the city. You can get on and off as often as you want during the day. As I mentioned, at $25 per person, it’s not the cheapest thing in the world, but package tours are available and I think you can usually find a discount.

Book here and receive a discount: Old Trolley Tours

- Savannah Hotels

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Tour for only $13.50

What’s cooler than tooling around Savannah in a hearse with a raised roof, so you can poke your head out the top? How about packing it full of gaping tourists? Yeeeah! Me and my peeps is straight pimpin’ in the Hearsemobile. Holla atcha boy!

I didn’t know what to think the first time I saw this bizarre vehicle night-cruising around Savannah’s squares. The passengers seemed to be having a grand time, drinking out of to-go cups, scrutinizing old mansions, and completely oblivious to my baffled contemplation of them. “On the one hand”, I thought, “that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. On the other hand, my parents are totally going to love it”.

So during their visit, we booked spots on the Hearse Tour and arranged for a pick-up outside the Pirate House. What ensued was an entertaining trip around Savannah’s dark side. Our guide was completely into it, and her enthusiasm for the supernatural was contagious. There wasn’t a dull moment on the entire tour… every house she led us by had its own spooky story, whether a horrific crime or an unexplained phenomena. A lot of the tales were new to me, and I felt chills when we went by the old psychiatric hospital on Abercorn. It might have been the booze, but I swear I saw the outline of a face in one of the hospital windows.

The Hearse Tour is not exactly inconspicuous. I lost count of how many pedestrians yelled “Oooooooh… SPOOKY!” at us. But if you’re able to tune that out, you’ll have a great time, especially since you’re allowed to bring drinks aboard — the hearse actually counts as a limousine service. We had a blast, and can definitely recommend the tour.

Official Website
912-965-1578

- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil